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Adding another level of complexity to peace talks, Kurdish parties so far excluded from the negotiations in Geneva on Thursday declared a federal region in areas under their control in northern Syria as they seek further autonomy.
The Syrian government immediately disapproved the action.
“Raising the issue of a federation ... would affect the territorial integrity of Syria, which goes against the constitution, the national concepts and international resolutions,” a source from the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry told the state-controlled Syrian Arab News Agency. “Any declaration to that effect would be without any legal value and void of any legal, political, social or economic effect as long as it does not reflect the will of the entire Syrian people."
The source added that threats to undermine Syrian sovereignty would be considered support for terrorism.
The unilateral announcement of a new "federal system" was made at a conference in Rmeilan, in Syria's Hassakeh province, by the Democratic Union Party, or PYD. Under the proposal, three cantons currently controlled by the PYD would be incorporated into a federal system whose leaders would be elected by local councils.
The “accumulated administrative, social, and institutional experience” from running the cantons has prepared the region for this new system, a PYD document obtained by AFP argues. “For this reason," the document states, "the establishment of a democratic federation in Rojava – Northern Syria is necessary to coordinate among the autonomous administrations.”
PT Actually nothing new: PYD's leader has since years stated that they do NOT seek independence from #Syria, but more autonomy
— Der Streitapfel (@Streitapfel) March 12, 2016
The Syrian National Coalition, a Syrian opposition group, also did not recognize the declaration of autonomy, which it said is an attempt to "confiscate the will of the Syrian people."
The newly-formed Hmeymim Syrian opposition group told Sputnik that, "Our Syrian friends should have waited till all the Syrians agree on a solution to this sensitive (Syrian Kurdish) issue. This step is premature. In any case, it is just symbolic. It has nothing in common with the reality."
The United States supports the Syrian Kurds with weapons and airstrikes, but it joined the Syrian government in saying in a statement Wednesday that, "We have not and will not recognize any ‘self-rule’ semi-autonomous zone."
"We remain committed to the unity and territorial integrity of Syria," the U.S. said.
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An autonomous Syrian Kurdish region could escalate Turkish retaliation against its own population, which it fears would fight for similar rights.
"Syria's national unity and territorial integrity is fundamental for us,” said a Turkish Foreign Ministry official. “Outside of this, unilateral decisions cannot have validity."
Speaking ahead of the Kurdish declaration, United Nations mediator Staffan de Mistura branded the federalism push as possibly "dangerous," according to the Swiss news agency ATS.
The talks have been criticized for excluding the Syrian Kurds, largely at the behest of Turkey. But the Moscow Group, a Russia-approved umbrella organization for officially tolerated opposition groups, said it was working to "lift the embargo" against bringing in Kurdish delegates, while a member of the Syrian government delegation told AFP the Kurds would be "invited to the talks in the next stage."
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